Page:A history of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages, volume 3.djvu/204

 188 POLITICAL HERESY.— THE CHURCH. but the effort came too late. In April the hosts were already as- sembling, and the legate did, and probably could do, nothing to avert the final blow. Overwhelming as was the force of the cru- saders, the handful of peasants met it with their wonted resolu- tion. At Altenesch, on May 27, they made their stand and re- sisted with stubborn valor the onslaught of Hendrik of Brabant and Florent of Holland ; but, in the vast disparity of numbers, Thierry of Cleves was able to make a flank attack with fresh troops which broke their ranks, when they were slaughtered un- sparingly. Six thousand were left dead upon the field, besides those drowned in the Weser in the vain attempt at flight, and we are asked to believe that the divine favor was manifested in that only seven of the crusaders perished. The land now lay defence- less before the soldiers of the Lord, who improved their victory by laying it waste with fire and sword, sparing neither age nor sex. Six centuries later, on May 27, 1S34, a monument was solemnly dedicated on the field of Altenesch to the heroes who fell in des- perate defence of their land and liberty.* Bald as was the pretence for this frightful tragedy, the Church assumed all the responsibility and kept up the transparent fiction to the last. When the slaughter and devastation were over, came the solemn farce of reconciling the heretics. As the land had been so long under their control, their dead were buried indistin- guishable with the remains of the orthodox, so, November 28, 123-1, Gregory graciously announced that the necessity of exhu- mation would be waived in view of the impossibility of separat- ing the one from the other, but that all cemeteries must be conse- crated anew to overcome the pollution of the heretic bodies within them. Considerable time must have been consumed in the settle- ment of all details, for it is not until August, 1236, that Gregory writes to the archbishop that, as the Stedingers have abandoned their rebellion and humbly supplicated for reconciliation, he is 9399, 9400. — Epistt. Select. Sa3cul. XIII. T. I. No. 572.— Meyeri Annal. Flandr. Lib. Yin. ami. 1233. — Chron. Cornel. Zantfliet ann. 1234.— Schumacher, pp. 116- 17.— Chron. Erfordiens. ann. 1232.— Sachsische Weltchronik No. 376-8.— H.Wol- teri Chron. Bremens. (Meibom. Rer. Germ. II. 58-9).— Chron. Rastedens. (lb. II. 101). — Joan Otton. Cat. Archiepp. Bremens. ann. 1234. — Albert. Stadens. ann. 1234. — Anon. Saxon. Hist. Imperator. aim. 1229.
 * 1) Emonis Chron. aim. 1234 (Matthsei Analccta III. 139 sqq.). — Potthast No.